


Invite Me In

by inlovewithnight



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: Multi, Polyamory Negotiations, psychic soulbonded wolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 07:02:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3125336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithnight/pseuds/inlovewithnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The pack is the most important thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Invite Me In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [7iris](https://archiveofourown.org/users/7iris/gifts).



Marcus woke up early, pushed out of sleep by the persistent nudge of Hawk’s mind against his. Hawk was sending clear images, a series Marcus was familiar with, since he woke up to them more mornings than not. Two wolves curled up in a den, an empty space between them; two trees with branches entwined except for the visible gaps where a third should be; and of course, a petite brown wolf with large eyes and an uncertain angle to her ears.

_You want to go see Athena, go see her_ , Marcus thought back. 

From the den in the far wall of the bedroom, Hawk sneezed at him in disapproval.

_Or she can come here, if you don’t want to go out. I don’t want to go out, either. I’m staying here, in bed, where it’s warm._

Hawk’s thought grew more pointed, with a sense of how much warmer it would be with a third body curled up under the sheets. Marcus sighed and pressed closer to Joan for a moment, burying his face against her hair.

“Mist is nagging me,” Joan mumbled.

“I figured.”

“Just call him and tell him to come over.”

“That feels weird.”

“Going over there, staying half an hour, and casually suggesting he and Athena come back with you isn’t weird?”

“It’s more subtle.”

“Not when you do it four or five mornings a week.” Joan pulled the covers higher over herself. “But keep telling yourself that if you want.”

“Look, this is--”

“I know.” She glanced at him with a smile. “Put the coffee maker on before you go.”

“Yeah.” Marcus sighed and kissed her shoulder, then rolled over and sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Hawk was sitting there with a pair of socks in his mouth. “Thanks,” Marcus told him sourly.

Hawk wagged his bushy black tail. His thought was a distinctively smug wave that could only translate as _don’t mention it._ Being bonded to a wolf was such bullshit sometimes.

**

Marcus had a key to Sherlock’s place, of course; Joan had one, and even if she hadn’t, being able to get Hawk to Athena when he wanted to see her was an absolute necessity. Bond pressure was no joke when it had pack-panic behind it. Marcus preferred to keep the capillaries in his eyes and nose intact and the number of debilitating headaches in his life to a minimum.

Hawk’s thoughtstream was pretty pointed as they walked. Imagines and emotions flowed by rapidly, leaving a clear message about how if Marcus _knew_ they were pack, as he clearly did, why was he not _acting_ like a proper pack member? Why was he not bringing Athena and her bondmate home to the den? It was correct to live with Joan and Mist, but it was incorrect that Athena and Sherlock were not there as well. Marcus and Joan should be correcting their error. It was proper behavior. Proper behavior was important.

_It’s complicated_ , Marcus thought sharply at him as they made their way down the sidewalk to the brownstone. _There are human considerations._

Hawk lifted his leg on a parked car’s tire to illustrate his indifference to that. Pack was important. Everything else was secondary.

Marcus sighed and unlocked the brownstone’s front door. “Sherlock? You up? It’s Bell.”

Athena trotted down the hall to greet them, her tail fluffed and wagging. Hawk stopped and nuzzled her, checking her ruff and throat and belly before he gave a little bounce and chased her back toward the kitchen. Marcus slipped his coat off and hung it on the end of the stair railing. “Sherlock?”

“In here,” came a reply from the study. “Mind the books.”

Books covered most of the floor, to the point where minding them would require Marcus to tiptoe. He stayed in the doorway instead. “What are you doing?”

“Cross-referencing.”

“Why?”

“It may be useful at some point in the future.” Sherlock looked up, his eyes unfocused. “Do you think you could perhaps put some coffee on?”

“You been at this all night?”

“Something like that.” Sherlock turned his head toward the kitchen and smiled faintly. “You brought Hawk.”

Marcus shrugged. “Everywhere I go.”

“She’s very pleased to see him. It’s…” Sherlock gestured vaguely, turning the faint smile toward Marcus. “It’s nice to feel her happiness.”

Marcus wished Joan was here. Joan was better at this, at knowing what to say when Sherlock just put it _out there_ , like bond damage was something people talked about instead of hiding in shame. Between the drugs and the Irene-Moriarty-whatever debacle, Sherlock and Athena’s bond was twisted and battered to the point where it could have broken a half a dozen times.

But Sherlock was a lucky bastard.

“Why don’t you come make the coffee,” Marcus said finally. “Give yourself a break from the books.”

“Very well.” Sherlock got to his feet and stepped carefully, rising onto his toes here and there, and once executing a neat little ballet-style jump to reach the doorway. “I think I might have mini-muffins, as well. Or mini-bagels. Small carbohydrates of some kind.”

“Ms. Hudson?” Marcus asked pointedly.

“Of course.” Sherlock stepped into the kitchen and held his hand out to Athena as she hurried over to greet him. “Hello, my love.”

It was strange to watch them gaze into each other’s eyes and know that instead of clear, free-running thought, they were both getting everything through heavy static. It gave Marcus the creeps, actually, though he was better at hiding it than he used to be. Bonds were so delicate, and so important, how could anyone let them get--

Hawk nudged his hand and Marcus snapped out of it, turning his attention to scritching the big wolf’s ears. Hawk sent him an image of what he could already see--Sherlock’s hand on Athena’s head--but with an illustrative wave of emotion that made his point. Strained or not, the bond was still _there_. Athena loved Sherlock. The rest of it was nobody’s business but theirs.

Sherlock turned to the coffee maker, popping in a clean filter while Athena leaned heavily against his legs and wagged her tail. “How is Watson?”

“She’s fine. She said you should come over later. Work some case background and let the girls and Hawk have pack time.”

“I’m not sure, my cross-referencing is--” Sherlock stopped and looked down at his wolf, his face easing into a smile. It was a fragile expression, almost sweet; not anything Marcus associated with Sherlock at all. “Very well, my love,” Sherlock said, glancing at Marcus and nodding. “That sounds like an excellent agenda for the day.”

“The books will still be here when you get back, right?”

“Athena’s point exactly.” Sherlock shook his head and took two to-go cups out of the cabinet. “I know how to retreat gracefully when I’m outnumbered.”

“I’ve seen exactly zero evidence of that in the time I’ve known you, Holmes.”

“I said I know how, not that I choose to do it every day.” Sherlock caressed Athena’s jaw with the back of his hand. “Could you grab the bag that’s sitting on the chair there? It has some files I want to solicit Watson’s opinion on.”

“The work never stops.”

Sherlock snorted and filled the coffee cups. “What would we do with ourselves if it did?”

**

It felt good, all six of them being in the same place. Marcus wasn’t disputing that. He could feel the pack-bond just as well as Hawk did. He _got_ it. No question.

But he also knew that this had to be thought out beyond feeling good. Sherlock didn’t work just on feelings; hell, he ran _less_ on feelings than most people Marcus knew. There were other things that had to be considered. Practicalities. Behavior. Careers. It wasn’t as simple as opening the door and letting Sherlock come into their lives; it couldn’t be.

For a wolf, though, it was exactly that simple. So Marcus was stuck explaining, over and over again, that it wasn’t like that for humans, and getting nothing but skepticism back.

It felt good, watching Athena curl up with Mist and Hawk in the corner. It felt good to be sitting close enough that he could brush his palm against Joan’s back while she and Sherlock talked case details. It felt good when Sherlock glanced up and met Marcus’ eyes, every so often.

He couldn’t just work on feelings, though. Not even if he wanted to.

**

“We need to talk about this,” Joan said, stretching her legs out in front of her and lowering her forehead to touch her knees.

“I thought you were going running.”

“I am. I’m giving you a heads-up that when I get back we’re going to talk about this.”

“What if instead, when you get back you take a shower and I meet you in the bedroom and we have a nice afternoon instead?”

She raised an eyebrow at him and levered herself up off the floor. “And then we talk about it.”

“Just to be clear, you mean Sherlock.”

She tightened her ponytail and shook her head, hair falling forward. “Yes, I do.”

“I don’t want to talk about that.”

“We need to. So take the next hour to psych yourself up.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek, then headed out the door, already jogging when she hit the stairs.

Marcus sighed and looked over at Mist and Hawk, lying on the couch with identical smug expressions. “Don’t even start,” he warned them. “I’ll talk about it, but I’m not gonna like it and I’m _really_ not gonna appreciate any contributions from the peanut gallery.”

Mist grumbled under her breath and curled up into a ball, pointedly not looking at him. Hawk stared at him until he had to leave the room to get away from it. Goddamn wolves. They _knew_ things.

When Joan got home he waited for her to shower, but when she came into the bedroom he just had a bottle of Gatorade for her, nothing sexy. “Turns out thinking about arguing with you about Sherlock doesn’t turn me on,” he said. “So let’s get down to it.”

She twisted her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head and secured it with a rubber band, then took the Gatorade. “He’s part of us, Marcus. We can’t pretend that’s not true.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t true. I’m just trying to keep boundaries.”

“You know I’m a fan of boundaries, too, but in this case they’re not working.” She paused to drink, holding up her hand to stop his rebuttal. “Boundaries have to be different around soulbonds, you know that. Shaped differently. Enforced differently. He’s part of our pack.”

“His wolf is part of _their _pack.”__

__“It’s the same thing and you know it.” She capped the bottle and set it aside, wrapping her arms around herself with a sigh. “And he’s in love with you.”_ _

__“Joan.”_ _

__“He is. Since pretty much day one.” She looked at him for a long moment, a wry smile twisting her mouth. “You know it as well as I do, so stop pretending.”_ _

__“This isn’t something I’m comfortable discussing.”_ _

__“I know.” She touched his arm, her smile fading. “And I wouldn’t ask you to, except I think pretty soon you’re not going to have a choice.”_ _

__“What’s that supposed to mean?”_ _

__“Marcus. Don’t tell me Hawk hasn’t clued you in.” At his blank look, she frowned. “He really hasn’t?”_ _

__“He doesn’t tell me anything he doesn’t think I need to know.” Marcus sent an irritated burst of thought toward his wolf, and got back an image of a cool grey sky, wolf thought for _I am ignoring you as hard as I can_. “What’s going on, Joan?”_ _

__She sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning back on her elbows and looking at him. “Athena hasn’t gone into heat in the time you’ve known her and Sherlock.”_ _

__“Well… no. I guess not. I never thought about it.”_ _

__“The bond damage has inhibited her. But they’re making a lot of practice in their healing. Mist thinks she’s probably a few weeks or a month away.”_ _

__“That doesn’t have anything to do with me.”_ _

__Joan rolled her eyes. “You know she’s going to choose Hawk.”_ _

__“And I’ll be right here at home with you and we’ll have a nice time, and Sherlock can call up one of his… people and they’ll have a nice time.”_ _

__Joan gave him a grim, level look. “Or you could see this as an opportunity for a boost to get you two over the scary part.”_ _

__“Why do you _want_ that? You had a hard enough time getting boundaries set with him. Why do you want to invite him in and tear them all down?”_ _

__“That isn’t what I said at all.”_ _

__“Explain to me how it isn’t.”_ _

__Joan sighed. “He’s part of the pack, and the longer you keep resisting that, the more difficult it’s going to be for all of us. We have to figure out how we all fit. Being a pack doesn’t mean he has to live here, despite what the wolves say. But it does mean that we all have to be open to each other. We have to figure this out. We have to set our boundaries _honestly_ instead of just trying to lock each other out with them.”_ _

__Marcus shook his head. “I need a break.”_ _

__“Fine.” Joan flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling._ _

__He grabbed his coat and silently told Hawk to stay. “I’ll be back in a couple hours.”_ _

__“Be careful,” she said._ _

__“I always am.”_ _

__**_ _

__The gym at the precinct was half-full, but the guys gave Marcus a wide berth as soon as they saw his face. An hour on the heavy bag didn’t really make him feel any better, but it took the edge off enough that he could think, at least._ _

__He stripped the wraps off his hands and went back to the showers, letting the water pound against his face. Set boundaries honestly. How could _anything_ be done honestly with Sherlock, who lied to himself so habitually he probably couldn’t even recognize it anymore?_ _

__And Joan thought Sherlock _loved_ him. Sherlock didn’t love anything. He didn’t believe in it, and he didn’t know how. Marcus was willing to take him at face value on that, even if it did contradict what he just admitted about Sherlock’s honesty problem._ _

__Marcus turned under the showerhead, rubbing his face with his hands while the water hit his shoulders. “Fuck,” he muttered. None of this was sorting itself out the way he’d hoped. All of it seemed to be heading toward him having to have a talk with Sherlock. That hadn’t been in his plans for the day._ _

__**_ _

__Sherlock answered the door with a puzzled expression and a padlock in one hand. “Bell.”_ _

__“We need to talk.”_ _

__“Has something happened? Is Watson all right?”_ _

__“She’s fine. She’s at home. You and me, we need to talk.”_ _

__Sherlock glanced past him at the sidewalk. “Where’s Hawk?”_ _

__“Also at home. I needed a one-on-one conversation.”_ _

__“Ah.” Sherlock stepped back and let him in. “You do know of course that Athena is here.”_ _

__“It’s fine. I don’t mean literally one-on-one, just…” Marcus made himself stop and take a breath. “We need to talk.”_ _

__Sherlock crossed over to the table and set the padlock down, then turned back to Marcus and gestured. “Begin.”_ _

__Now that he had an opening, he couldn’t figure out what the fuck to say. Typical. “Joan thinks you’re in love with me.”_ _

__Sherlock’s brow creased. “Watson’s powers of observation were developed under my instruction, but that is not something I expected to find she’d made note of.”_ _

__“Be a little more clear, Holmes, would you? Are you saying she’s right?”_ _

__Sherlock squared his shoulders, standing a little taller in that way he did when he was going to talk too much. “You know that I view love as something of a meaningless social construct, rather than an objective _thing_ that can be classified without question.”_ _

__“Get to the point, Holmes.”_ _

__Sherlock rose even higher, probably standing on his toes if Marcus looked. “You are attractive, you are intelligent, you demand respect, and I’ve found that I have indeed acceded to your demand.”_ _

__Marcus blinked slowly. “You respect me.”_ _

__“Yes. Very highly.”_ _

__“And in your little messed-up world, that’s the same thing as being in love with me.”_ _

__“The meanings are functionally equivalent when your relative attractiveness is factored in, yes.”_ _

__“ _Relative_ attractiveness.” Marcus exhaled and looked up at the ceiling. “Well.”_ _

__“In truth you and Watson are ridiculously lovely together. I’m not sure how you get anything done.”_ _

__“You’re so bad at giving compliments, Holmes.”_ _

__“It’s not a skill I’ve had much cause to develop.” Sherlock turned and bowed his head to Athena, who was standing in the doorway. “Hello, my love. Did you come to watch Bell seek to humiliate me?”_ _

__“That’s not what I’m trying to do, Holmes.” Marcus held his hand out to Athena, accepting her disappointed huff as she confirmed that Hawk wasn’t there. “I just want to clear the air.”_ _

__“I wasn’t aware that the air was foggy.”_ _

__“Joan says Athena’s due for a heat.” Throwing it out in the open like that felt so wrong, so fucking uncomfortable. His face was hot, and he kept his eyes on the floor, because looking at either Sherlock or Athena would be too much. “And that she’ll pick Hawk.”_ _

__“Well, yes,” Sherlock said stiffly. “Given that he is her pack leader and mate, of course.”_ _

__“So you’ve known about this.”_ _

__“It would be difficult for me not to, given that she and I are bonded.”_ _

__Marcus shook his head. “You’re deliberately avoiding the subject.”_ _

__“I don’t know what you want me to say.” Sherlock’s voice got Marcus’ attention; it was raw, vulnerable, a tone he had rarely heard. Sherlock was standing with his hands open, fingers splayed, a posture Marcus had only ever seen him take when talking to Joan and not realizing he was observed. “I’ll certainly never force my attentions upon you. I won’t require you to do anything you find distasteful outside of the boundaries of casework.”_ _

__“Oh, shut up.” Marcus pressed his hand over his eye, willing the sudden throbbing twitch beneath it to subside. Great. He’d steered Sherlock right off the path of what he meant and into some bizarre alternate world of wolf-driven sexual assault. “I know you wouldn’t. You couldn’t if you wanted to.”_ _

__“Then what is the _problem_ here?” Sherlock’s vulnerability was gone, replaced with far more familiar arrogant frustration. “I’m sure I have no idea why you thought that coming over here to scold me was a good use of your day.”_ _

__“I didn’t come to scold you.” Marcus took another deep breath and dropped his hand. “Joan said that the mating could be like a crutch to get you and me over our baggage. But I don’t like to cheat like that.”_ _

__Sherlock stared at him. “A mating is never considered cheating. Watson is far too sensible to think such a thing.”_ _

__“Not cheating on _her_. Cheating at… us. Cheating at building an actual relationship with you.”_ _

__Sherlock’s mouth fell open. That was definitely a once in a lifetime event. “I… wasn’t aware that you wanted one.”_ _

__“Neither was I, until Joan put the idea in my head.” Marcus sighed and leaned back against the wall. “But. There it is.”_ _

__Sherlock shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I’ll need some time to think about this.”_ _

__“Yeah.” Marcus nodded. “Me too.”_ _

__“Perhaps I can call you in a bit, when I’ve taken that time?” Sherlock inclined his head toward the door._ _

__That was as smooth a rejection as Marcus had had since high school. “Okay. You know how to reach me.”_ _

__“I do indeed. Yes.” Sherlock nodded while Marcus made his way to the door. “And I will call. I promise.”_ _

__**_ _

__He didn’t call; he showed up at their door three days later with two large Starbucks cups and a pinched, anxious expression. “Can we walk, Bell?” he asked, pushing one of the cups at Marcus’ chest. “Walk and drink and discuss?”_ _

__“Sure.” Marcus brushed his hand against Athena’s head and stepped back to get his shoes, letting Hawk rush past him out the door. Mist watched them thoughtfully from the end of the entryway, but didn’t attempt to follow. She would show Joan where he’d gone, so he shut the door and followed Sherlock without calling out to her._ _

__“This is difficult,” Sherlock said once they’d rounded the end of the block. “I’m sure it is for you as well, but it’s extremely difficult for me, this… matter of so much emotion.”_ _

__“I know that’s not your strong point.”_ _

__“Quite.” Sherlock took a sip and walked a few more strides before speaking again. “Are you and Joan quite sure about this?”_ _

__“About what, exactly?”_ _

__“Wanting me as a part of your lives.”_ _

__“You’re already part of our lives. You’re her partner. You’re my colleague. You’re part of our wolves’ pack, which means part of _our_ pack.”_ _

__“None of those things require an emotional…” Sherlock gestured vaguely. “Commitment.”_ _

__“Of course they do.”_ _

__Sherlock huffed. “Very well. Let me rephrase.”_ _

__“Wait.” Marcus stopped and turned to face him. “Are you trying to get me to say that I like you?”_ _

__Sherlock hid his face behind his coffee cup. “That would be painfully transparent emotional blackmail.”_ _

__“You can’t bring yourself to say yes, but you mean yes.” Marcus shook his head, a smile tugging at his mouth. “Okay. I like you, Holmes. Not all the shit you pull, and not when you’re being an asshole, but… in general, yeah. I like you.”_ _

__Sherlock didn’t seem appeased; he kept watching Marcus with a blank face and cautious eyes. “And you would have me as part of the pack.”_ _

__“You already are.”_ _

__“I mean properly.”_ _

__Marcus breathed out slowly and took a drink. “Yes.”_ _

__Sherlock shifted his gaze to a point in the distance. “Do you know what the most difficult part is, Bell? Of the strained bond with Athena, I mean.”_ _

__“I can’t imagine.”_ _

__“She doesn’t blame me.” Sherlock tossed his coffee cup into a trash can and shoved his hands into his pockets. “It’s entirely my fault, of course, but she doesn’t see that. She holds me completely blameless. Views me with the exact same love and compassion as before.”_ _

__Marcus shrugged. “That sounds about right for a wolf bond.”_ _

__“It means I can never be forgiven, Bell.” Sherlock rocked back and forth on his heels. “She doesn’t blame me, so she can never forgive me. I can never be absolved. It’s… a conundrum. Probably the most fitting punishment of all, really.”_ _

__Marcus let the silence settle for a moment before he spoke. “I don’t see what that has to do with what we were talking about.”_ _

__“I’m not entirely certain I deserve what you’re offering me.” Sherlock seemed to shake himself out of his stillness and set off down the sidewalk again. “She wants it, she deserves it, I will do it for her, of course, but I’m not at all certain I should have it, or that I will treat it with the care it deserves, as such a gift.”_ _

__“I get that,” Marcus said after a moment. “But if you don’t treat it with care, if you act like a jerk about everything, Joan and I will kick your ass.”_ _

__“That is certainly true. I hadn’t considered that angle.” Sherlock stopped again and turned to face him. “Very well, Marcus. I accept your proposal.”_ _

__“Which proposal was that?”_ _

__“You indicated that you didn’t want to _cheat_ by waiting for Athena and Hawk’s mating. I accept your proposal of sexual intimacy prior to that event.”_ _

__Marcus blinked. “Is that what I was proposing?”_ _

__Sherlock’s eyes narrowed. “You’re toying with me.”_ _

__“I am. And you’re sucking all the fun out of everything by making it sound like a science experiment.”_ _

__“I disagree, but we can table that for the moment. Your residence or mine?”_ _

__Marcus rolled his eyes. “Mine, because I’m pretty sure we need to loop Joan in first. She’s going to be smug as hell about it, too.”_ _

__“I’ve never found her to be such.”_ _

__“Of course not.” Marcus reached out and caught Sherlock’s arm, turning him so they were facing each other. “Let me just try one thing.” He leaned in and kissed Sherlock, slowly and carefully, part of him waiting for some kind of sign from the universe that they were on the right track, that this was the right thing to do._ _

__The rest of him was just surprised at how easily Sherlock gave way and let himself be kissed, with none of the resistance and gameplay he brought to everything else in his life._ _

__When Marcus stepped back, Sherlock was smiling, a soft, dazed expression that Marcus definitely hadn’t seen before._ _

__“That was rather nice,” Sherlock said. “Do you agree?”_ _

__Maybe that was the sign. “Yeah.” Marcus reached out with his thoughts and called Hawk to his side, Athena dancing along behind him. “Let’s go talk to Joan.”_ _

__**_ _

__Joan was sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by two distinct arcs of paper. “The left is case notes,” she said without looking up. “Sherlock, we’ll talk about those in a minute. The right is our lease and some financial notes.”_ _

__“Why do you have those out?” Marcus asked, stepping out of the way of Mist’s joyous reunion with Hawk and Athena._ _

__“I talked to the woman who lives next door. Her lease ends in April, and she’s planning to move closer to her son.” Joan tapped one sheet of paper. “I think we shouldn’t have any problem renting it if we act now. We can file under the Wolf Welfare Act for a permit to cut a wolf door through the wall between the apartments, us humans can just keep using the regular doors to preserve privacy and boundaries, it should be a good fit.”_ _

__Marcus shook his head and leaned down to kiss her hair. “You’re like six miles out in front of the rest of us, huh?”_ _

__“Always.” She smiled at him and then at Sherlock. “Glad you worked out your stuff. I’ll clear out and give you some space _after_ we sort out these case notes. Have a seat, Sherlock, we’ve got work to do.”_ _


End file.
